Pipe-cleaner.



G. LI NTHIC UM.

PIPE CLEANER. APPLICATION FILED em. 4. I916- Patented Dec. 18,1917

2 SIHEETSSHEET' I- Patented Dec. 18, 1917.

GEORGE LINTHICU'M, OF ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

PIPE-CLEANER.

Application filed October 4, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE LINTHIGUM, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, and resident of Annapolis, in the county of Anne Arundel andState of Maryland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPipe-Cleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to pipe cleaning implements and particularly tomeans for boring or removing the deposits commonly found in the pipes ofwater systems, particularly in the service pipes thereof leading frommains to buildings.

An object of this invention is. to provide novel means whereby a rotarymember may be inserted in a pipe and advanced or pressed forward as itis being rotated and as it cuts or removes the deposit within the pipe,means being also provided for effecting a step by step movement of therotating means in advancing or retracting the said implement.

A further object of this invention is to provide means for holding thefeeding or advancing mechanism at different positlons with respect tothe bottom of the trench or wherever the pipe is located.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means foroperating the cleaning tool by thrust motion, means being pro vided forreciprocating the said cleaning tool during the oscillation of a leverconstituting a part of the apparatus.

A still furtherobject of thisinvention is to provide means for chokingor closing the pipes between the main and a valve so that in case thepassage in the valve is too small for a cleaning tool, another valve maybe substituted during the cleaning operation and thereafter the firstmentioned valve may be replaced without cutting off the water from themain.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention consists inthe details of construction, and in the arrangement and combination ofparts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed.

In describing'the invention in detail, reference will be had to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification whereinlikecharacters denote corres o d.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dec. 18, 1917.

Serial No. 123,798.

ing parts in the several views, and in Figure 1 illustrates aperspective View of a fragment of a main and service pipe with theinvention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 illustrates a sectional view of the service pipe with fragmentsof the cleaning apparatus in elevation, and partly in section; 1

Fig. 3 illustrates a sectional view on the 7 line 33 of Fig. 2; i

Fig. 4 illustrates a perspective view of certam dogs disconnected;

Fig. 5 illustrates a detail view of a choke ing tool showing itsapplication to a pipe;

Fig. 6 illustrates a perspective view of said ing the same;

Fig. 12 illustrates a view in elevation,

partly in section, of the reciprocating cleaner;

Fig. 13 illustrates a sectional view on the line 1813 of Fig. 12;

Fig. 14 illustrates a side elevation of a clamp; Fig. 15 illustrates aface view thereof; and Fig. 16 illustrates a perspective view of acleaning rod for use in conjunction with the reciprocating cleaner.

In these drawings 20 denotes a rack bar, 21 a rack bar having teeth onits upper and lower surfaces, the shoulders of the said teeth beingoppositely faced. The rack bars 20 and 21 are connectedat the joint 22to an arm 23 which arm is connected to an extension 24 of a collar 25,which collar is ad:

justably secured on the pipe 26 by the set screw- 27, so that the saidcollar may be moved longitudinally-of the pipe for the purpose ofbringing the rack bars into,

proper operative relation to the service pipe 28 t'o'b ecleaned,'therebeingajvalve'29in to the cleaning tool asw llbepresently'exterposed between the service pipe 28 and the pipe 26. Acoupling 80 is attached to one end of the pipe 26 andthe said couplingcommnnlcates w th a discharge pipe 31 by whlch water and bormgs are permtted to escape during the cleaningoperation. i

A stufling box 32 and a aclrngrmg 33 are assembled in operative relationto the coupling and a cleaning rod or shaft 84c Fig. .8.

39 for the lever :soithat the'lev er maybe oscillated for thrusting therod inwardly or pulling'it outwardly.

As a means for causingan advance thdrawal oft-hecleanmg tool,.the lowerend of the lever 'is'provlded with 'afdog ll:

whichengages the upper series of. teeth ,of

V the rack bar 21'and the'saidleveris further provided .with dogs 4'2and' lS the, latter of which engages the series of teeth on the Iundersurface of the rack bar 21, and the do'g' 4c2 engages the teeth of theraCk'Ibar QO.

The lever 40 is further supplied with springs 4A and 45,theformer ofwhichis adapted to beconnected to a stud ld'o'n thed-og 43 and thelatter ofwhich is adapted tobe connected to a stud 47 ofthe dog 42according tot-he directionof movement tobe imparted plained. V

In orderto support the rack bar and the mechanism associated with it inproper re-l lation to the pipe to be cleaned, a base block 47 which isadapted to "rest on the ground, has a sleeve 48 rising from it,. the

said sleeve receiving a post 49 on the under surface of the racks andthe said postlis held at different positions of adjustment A modifiedconstruction 1 is" a set screw 50 p shown in Fig. 11 for holding therack-bars andthisconsists ofa rod 51 hav-ing a hooked end 52, the saidrod beingslida'ble in an aperture 53 the hooked end thereof be:

ing adapted to enter an aperturefl l,

le 55 in. this ,emh d m hti of we in fei Q Suppo t t rod lan 1 1t 1'; trn.

e r sl' he i ea: be: ,T eli wr mien-ti F iI t l'mis fll' t y W119??? i}were ne v deep, a d heref e lea an e:

tween the service pipe andQthebottom of drill fis elliptical in crosssectionor at a vt e h a s such ll eqie 'ipaay as this constructionconformsto' the pas the trench f is not v sufficient to us'ei fo rinithroughthe service pipe, carrying theborr ings past the drill and out ofthe discharge ,:-=T-here are times when a rigid drill rod or cleaningdevice cannot be employed in removal-ofwdeposits from pipes asn wherethere is a bend or elbow in a service pipe.

' 'Foi' th e purpose"ofadapting the apparatus for use in connection withimplements for Cleaning pipes having such curves, the clamp '58 ,is.appliedto-thepivot'39 and said. pivot has a nurse for forcing'thesaidclainp" inwardly and if an end69'of a 'rod 56 were seated in.t'he,recess GOof thesai'd' clamping bloc kjitbould beheld so thatduring the reciprocatioii of the lever flOg the'rod "56 and'f cleaningtool 56 would fbe're'cip'r'o'c'at'edanch forced 4 longitudinally or theservice pipe for 7 theren oval of deposits; The cleaningto'ol" V apertues sucli' as 57 'rorper'mittiag theiescape' 0f cuttings. y In practice;it hasbeen found that the} valves such as 29 of service pipeshave re"stricted openings'which will not permit the passage of'thecleaning'toolsj Injcar'ryin out my invention, t11esai 1,-'va1ve towhiclif the pipe 26 isyeonneaedimay berem'oved whenl such "obstacles areencountered and' valves having larger o p'eni'ngs substituted" so as topermit the cleaning tools to enter the'smicepipe without cutting es"-the Water the main by choking the service n pipe and removing ,[thesmall valve, placing the larger valve thereon; and then r'eradvi'ng'thechoking devi ce While the, operation of clean ing the pipes is performedafteiflwhi'ch the pipe willthen befchoke da n'd the original valverestoredgl To effect the result just stated; a choking "implement is'prdvided which c o nsists' pr a, tubular m'eiiiberl 6.1 in whichfafrod62"fis rotatab One end: of the" 110 said rod having a flezgiblemember'63*s e curedto itby wire or oth'e rYvv'rapping b lc. The'said flexiblemembe'rl is"secured at its opposite end to the pipe '61; by the fa s ten ings' 65 and hence asfthe rod 6 2 is rotatedg" the flexible material{63 is twisted and terms; a" choke such "as is: showri' the I dra\ving*where the "flexible:Ihaterial is" sh'dwn as;twisted;as 'statedifliiTlieouter'e'ii of the rod 62 is threaded arid anut"66 is} threaded on it,the said nutfhavinglaflset screw .bywhichitisiheldi di fleriltpositionsof adjustment and itina'y the end of ui 'p ip gerte 'h olfd thechoke op-i erat'ing rod." I p it F m the i esd h i l cripti J .tSi ii fthemei e ef me s ne .v il e ili art w i fide fta the? of the choke ormanner of substituting valves andtheoperation ofthe device5'itbe' ingapparent it is thought that after the parts have been assembled in therelation shown in F ig. 1, a reciprocation of the lever 40 will causethe cleaning tool to be moved into the service pipe, although when thetool is to be advanced, the spring should be disconnected from the studof the dog 43 and it should hang loose and out of engagement with theteeth of the rack bar 21. lVhen the parts are thus arranged, anoscillation of the lever 40 will result in advancing the dogs 41 and 42alternately and when the implement is being advanced, the wheel shouldbe rotated so that the cutting tool will be rotated to remove depositsfrom the service pipe.

When the tool is being advanced the dogs 41 and 42 engage the respectiverack bars and when the upper end of the lever is being pushed forward,the dog 41 advances and when the lever is oscillated in the oppositedirection, the dog 41. bears against one of the shoulders of the rackbar and the dog 42 moves over a tooth or more and engages the shoulderto retain the lever in the advanced position, While it is beingoscillated in the opposite direction. This would be apparent from aninspection of Fig. 2 of the drawing.

Then the cleaning tool is to be with drawn, the dogs 41 and 42 are heldout of engagement with the teeth of the rack 20 and the rod is drawn outof the pipe. Provision is made for disconnecting the springs from thedogs so that the dogs may be held in or out of engagement with the racksaccording to the direction of movement to be imparted to thereciprocating rods.

I claim:

1. In a pipe cleaning apparatus, a double rack, a lever, dogs carried bythe lever for engaging the rack for advancing the lever, a cleaning rodconnected to the lever whereby the said cleaning rod is reciprocated,means for rotating the cleaning rod, a drill elliptical in cross sectionon the inner end of the cleaning rod adapted to enter a service. pipe, adrain pipe for carrying oil the dislodged material within the pipe, andmeans for connecting the rack bar to the p p 2. In a pipe cleaningapparatus, an oscillating lever, a clamp secured thereto, a. cleaningrod adapted to be held by the clamp, said cleaning rod being flexible, aclea-ning'tool adapted to be connected to the said cleaning rod, andmeans for holding the lever in operative relation to a pipe to becleaned.

3. In a pipe cleaning apparatus, a rack, an adjustable support therefor,means for connecting the rack to a pipe, a lever oscillatable withrelation to the rack and movable longitudinally thereof, a cleaning toolcarried by the rod, and a stufiing box through which the rod projects.

4. In an apparatus for cleaning pipes, means for closing a passage in apipe, a valve adapted to be secured to the said pipe when the closure isoperating, said valve having a passage therein to permit the withdrawalof the closure when the valve is in operative position, a rod foroperating the closure, a stufling box through which the rod operates,and means for holding the closure in adjusted position.

5. In a pipe cleaning apparatus, a rack bar having teeth on two faces, asecond rack bar connected thereto, means for holding the rack bars inplace, means for holding the rack bars in operative relation to a pipe,a

.lever, means carried by the lever adapted to engage the teeth of therack bars whereby oscillatory motion of the lever results in impartingmovement to the lever longitudinally of the rack bars, a cleaning rod,means for connecting the cleaning rod to the lever, and a cleaning toolon the rod adapted to enter a service pipe.

GEORGE LINTHICUM.

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

. Washington, D. 0.

